This book examines the changing business and
economic environment for postal services in Lithuania and the upcoming
challenges for this industry. Postal services continue to play a central part
in the development of national economies. However, the economic and social role
of postal services has changed rapidly and fundamentally over the last two
decades. In most industrialized countries, paper-based communications are in serious
decline, while the demand for parcel delivery services is rising steadily with the
continuing development of e-commerce, just-in-time production techniques, and
global supply chains. For the postal sector as a whole, the centre of gravity
has shifted dramatically from letters and documents to parcels. The authors explain how the organizational
paradigm has inexorably shifted from that of a national, government-owned
postal administration providing the basic delivery services required by society,
to a system of interdependent local and regional undertakingsthat both compete
and cooperate with one another. The book argues that there are no indications that
the postal sector has stopped changing, and that it seems most probable that
the European Union’s postal sector will look quite different in 2035 than it
does today. In closing, the book explains how the shareholders of postal
services companies have recently confirmed that the time has come to rethink
the strategy of creating and maintaining competitiveness in the postal services
industry.